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Yeah, but if I'm going to play a level or two and then throw my hands up in annoyance (I'm looking at you, Clive Barker's Jericho, and at you, Star Wars: Force Unleashed), than any amount is too expensive.

I played Jericho with a downloaded save that had all the cheats turned on (always win QTE and unlimited ammo being key) and on easy. It was legitimately fun running around as sniper lady and using the underslung grenade launchers on everything.

I played Jericho with a downloaded save that had all the cheats turned on (always win QTE and unlimited ammo being key) and on easy. It was legitimately fun running around as sniper lady and using the underslung grenade launchers on everything.

Maybe I should try that. If I remember right, I got a few levels in and found the guns underpowered and low on ammo pickups. When I encountered a CTD right after a long fight without a checkpoint (and then encountered it again a few days later just to make sure), that was it for me.

They're all brilliant in their own way, the first one is the weakest due to a bewildering number of bugs and lackluster graphics, but it has a great atmosphere, the second one is definitely the best as far as location and storyline is concerned and the third has the combat tweaked so it flows a great deal smoother, but I'm not sure that's an improvement really.

It's a pretty unusual series as far as RPGs are concerned, the combat system demands skill and the world has no enemy scaling, something that is bemoaned in modern games like The Elder Scrolls and the fantasy elements are dialed down, no elfs, dwarfs, etc..

I highly recommend to start with the second one, it's definably the best in the series and when it was released it was the only real alternative to the open wordiness of Morrowind. But if you find it's graphics too outdated the third is pretty good as long as you install the newest community patch.

An interesting postapocalyptic game (from Eastern Europe, yay) marred by subpar acting (animation + voices) and linear levels.
What it has definitely going for itself is a feel of "physicality" similar to Condemned.

There will be a extended edition later in 2012 free for all current owners.

Last edited by Revisor; 04-07-2012 at 11:43 AM.
Reason: Not "free", but "free for current owners"

There’s an awful lot more going on here than in the average third-person shooter, [...] the story, in the final hour (of about 12 or so) finally becomes something a bit more novel, [...] but I hated playing it.

I'm worried about the port quality. Obviously they botched the PC porting pretty badly but then again there was a patch improving the mouse handling and adding a FOV selection. I just don't know if it helped enough.

Edit: A Steam user says

Other than the mouse acceleration (which is easy for the player to adapt to), the game doesn't have many others serious problems since the patch

Binary Domain's patch fixed most technical problems mentioned in the WIT. Everything else John said contradicts what everyone says about the game. I bought it.

Originally Posted by F. Lynx Pardinus

Let me know what you think if you get a chance to try it.

Mediocre mod quality. It looks pretty cool but the level design, AI, bullet sponge respawning enemies and underpowered weapons ruin it. It's one of those games where you can basically touch the door in front of you but you can't jump over a 50cm handrail so you have to circle around through conveniently crashed subway trains - then fall and circle again. One day when I'm really bored I'll try to finish it.
It also features that special brand of awful English female accent. You know what I'm talking about.

I'm playing it with a controller, no voice commands (I'll try that on another playthrough) and FOV increased by 10.
With that in mind:

- the weapons feels really good and the controls are tight
- two hours into the game I already met a dozen enemy types. The in-game database shows a lot more are to come!
- each enemy type has different behaviour and stats
- shooting is tactical: you can dismember robots and they alter their behaviour accordingly. There are decoys, various grenade types and squad commands. I find the AI very interesting to play around with. Enemy groups come in various configurations and it's fun to mess with them and see how they react to both you and their allies.
- combat is interrupted by entertaining setpieces
- the boss fights are AWESOME
- it's not too Japanese, if you know what I mean. The arcade elements are non-intrusive and it's not full blown Kojima/JRPG retarded.
- I find the writing and cutscenes entertaining. There's a bit of a John Carpenter vibe.
- There's a conversation system. You can often choose responses like "Damn!", "God damn!" and "Shit", no matter what your team says.
- Your team reacts to your words and to your gameplay performance. For example, after a poor performance a dude was confused and annoyed and reminded me that shit will only get more real... to which I was like "Damn!". He wasn't pleased. Apparently their behaviour both in and out of combat and the story will be affected by what I do. So far I haven't seen much of that but the conversations and their reactions to what happens are satisfying.
- Looks, runs and sounds great

Wow, that sounds pretty fantastic. Does Amazon give you a Steam key? I've got a DE:HR key I might want to trade for this.

It's a Steam key.
I forgot to mention you have upgrades and currency. Combat performance is rewarded with money which you use at little trade stations to get ammo, weapons and upgrades for you and your team. Every character's main weapon has a bunch of stats and abilities to upgrade. Passive bonuses for each character can be found or purchased and then installed and swapped in what's basically a Tetris interface.